Neighbours From Hell

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This is going to sound a little more of a rant than usual, but after being woken up at four in the morning by my noisy b*tch neighbour on the only potential day I could have had a lie in I’m feeling really angry.

She’s a young single mother and she moved in next door with her little boy about six months ago. I live in a terraced house and the walls are so thin it’s possible to hear everything that goes on, even quiet conversations when she’s on the phone, so we have to turn our TV up to block it out. At first, she was fairly quiet, but recently on Wednesdays and at weekends she’s turned her house into ‘party central’ and it’s beginning to get on my nerves. Last night she turned up with no less than six other people at 4.00am who decided to drunkenly scream and shout until they left at 5.30am. It wouldn’t have been too bad if I hadn’t had to be at work today from 9.30 until 5 for rehearsals for a show that we’re putting on next week, so I am shattered.

I’ve rented housing for ten years and before we moved to our present house I’ve always had a really good relationship with my neighbours. However, we’ve always had problems with the residents of the house next door. When we first moved in a woman lived there with her little girl, and all we heard was her screaming and swearing at the child. She did a ‘moonlight flit’ and disappeared one night, only to be replaced a few weeks later with another woman who’s child screamed the walls down every single day. After a year she moved out, and a middle eastern couple moved in. It was a similar situation – they were fine for the first few months and then for almost a year we were subjected to daily parties. It got so bad that I went round and asked them to be quiet, but it made no difference, so we got the council involved. They (and their child) were often awake until 1.00am, they had their friends round constantly, played music, screamed, shouted and generally made a nuisance of themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no problem with parties, socialising or children, but it got so bad that I contacted their landlord, who was useless. The Bloke and I were a wreck- we started dreading going home and he started having heart palpitations from the anxiety. I was delighted when they moved out, particularly when a young couple moved in and they were brilliant. Yes, we could still hear them but it wasn’t loud enough to bother us.
Unfortunately, their landlord decided to try and sell the house and so they were forced to move out. Inevitably, the landlord realised that she was losing out on rent when the house didn’t sell, so it went back on the rent market and the present woman moved in.
It’s been an ongoing saga for years, so we’ve decided that we’re going to find somewhere else to live. I’m not superstitious and I don’t believe in supernatural beings, but I’m beginning to think that there may be something chemical in the house that affects the residents. It’s always fine for a month or two, but then they become really angry and start screaming every day and constantly arguing with each other. I read an article about black mould that can cause this type of behaviour, but perhaps I’m being silly because I’m tired.
All we need is a lottery win so we can buy a detached house. Anybody have a spare £250,000 they want to give me?
Picture credit: Still from the Simpsons

44 thoughts on “Neighbours From Hell”

  2. Susie,
    Obviously, I don’t know how housing laws work in the UK, but in my City, we are able to report nuisance properties (ANY type of nuisance or Ordinance violations that happen on the property) to the Code Enforcement department. This is an enforcement group within the City’s Housing department that ensures properties are being well-maintained and noise levels fall within allowable limits. This group is also separate from the Police Department, who may be called for noise or potential domestic violence complaints (yelling, screaming, hitting, etc.).

    In the meantime, is there a way to charge the PROPERTY itself with a nuisance complaint? Then, the LANDLORD would have to ensure the laws were being followed by the tenants.

    Sending you warm positive energy for a speedy search, for a new place to live.
    ~Michelle

    • We went through it all with the previous tenants, and the landlord of the property refuses to answer the phone to me now… The council are useless and it takes months to get anything to happen. We’re just going to move instead. Hopefully they’ll get similar people moving in after we’ve gone.

  3. A chance for an ADVENTURE! You get to move! Trala! You can now find a place where you and The Bloke can have peace and quiet!!!! Just make sure you can’t get neighbors that close any more. We lived in a really nice house in Detroit that I loved until the City gave out money for people to move so they could put in a bigger Jeep plant. They moved all sorts and one “family” next door to us. They screamed, kept a dalmation outside from February till December who barked all day long, the woman was an absolute bitch, the three kids played in the street and they had Easter at their house every year which meant them throwing boiled eggs over our fence. These people were pests and we moved. Just after the bitch’s brother came knocking on our door in a white Mercedes with gold trim all over. Wonder what he did for a living? He dressed in all white too – matched the car.

    • We’re luckily coming up to the summer which means we have a few weeks to house hunt. I can’t wait to get away. I was thinking that on our final day we can get a cheap stereo and push the speakers up against the wall, set it playing at it’s loudest and leave…

  4. I’ve recently ( in the past year or so ) had my own experience with neighbors from H-E-Double hockey sticks. 🙂 And for a time actually feared for my safety It’s not fun! Never before in my life either. They have since moved but are still in the area. I still run in to them from time to time at the store, library , etc. where they try their best to bully without being too obvious. But at least they don’t live across the street anymore. 🙂 Just a little commiseration. Understand tho.

  5. Ah, even our student neighbours aren’t that bad. It’s not the music that bothers me, but the talking. Their main room for socializing is next to my bedroom, and the walls are horribly thin. They can be up til 4am, but it only really happens a few times a month, so it’s not too bad.

  6. I’ve got angry just thinking about this, any activity that impacts on my normal sleep pattern brings out the inner Hulk. I’ve sworn at people and threatened creative deaths that would make GRR Martin blush.

    Hope you get it all sorted out.

    • Nothing a punch in the face wouldn’t sort out! She walked past me this morning and smiled as if butter wouldn’t melt… Cheeky cow…

  10. Aww that really sucks. I’ve been there before only my neighbor was right above me, not next door. She always seemed to wait until I was in a deep sleep to have a loud, raucous romp in the sack with her flavor of the week. I didn’t appreciate it and ended up moving out. So glad I don’t live there anymore.

  11. We call our local council (who finish for the night at 4.00 am, so if the noise is after that there’s nothing to be done but start the day early!) who send round the heavies. The heavies ask to come into our house, then they go round to the noisy neighbours’ house. Noise doesn’t generally stop at that point, but the council log the report, and after three noisy incidents the council does all it can to have the noisy neighbours moved on. Our street is generally pin-droppingly quiet, so even the mildest noise at night is a nuisance. It makes council tax seem worthwhile!

  12. When I was halfway through reading this post I thought to give a conspiracy theory about the house – but then I thought I wouldn’t be helping matters. Still, good to know you’ve considered that the house is evil.

  13. Phone social services, if she is shouting at her child with that extent, that is mental and emotional abuse and she really does need help. You wont be telling tales, you may just save the child from harm. There could be many reasons for her behaviour such as mental health, drugs, to name two. I worked in Soxal Work for around 5 years and left because of this hidden aggression, don’t say its not my business, its all our business.

    • I tried this with the previous tenants – they aren’t interested. I’ve worked with members of Social Services in my job and I think they do a brilliant job, but they are underfunded and understaffed and won’t turn up for small incidents… Neither will the police…

      • Thats the problem, no money but after babyp and that other wee laddie killed after a catalogue of beating, all you have to say is, do you want another childs death on your hands. Yes they do great work but its those on the top useless graduates who have never worked in the real public service. I worked with a wee laddie, his 6 year old sister was sexually abused by a 14 year old boy in the flat below, who was already on a probation order but sent home because there where no secure places for him.

      • Yes very much so. I have seen grown men weep when their hands have been tied, which allows parents and strangers to abuse.
        But local authorities and governments also have their petty rules, we had a childrens home directly opposite us, we had nothing but trouble, the kids had welfare rights workers who the kids could call if they thought that their rights were not given to them, they also had a smoking room, these children were all 16 and under, the staff were not allowed to smoke on the premises, this was well before the smoking ban, nearly every day the police turrned up to bring one or two of them back either pissed or stoned, local people were abused. One day one stoned kid called my wife a f…ing fat bitch, I was over there in a blink of an eye, the shock on this kids face, I then phone the head of social services, and told him he has 12 hours to move that kid of I am sure it will make a nice story about drug filled trouble in a childrens home, a taxi was loading up this kid and his stuff within two hours, a month later it was shut down and the 6 bedroom property huge grounds was sold for £68, 000
        Turns out that there was more going on then drugged up teenagers having fun there. These adults failed these kids, failed to get them in school, failed to get these children drug treatment, failed to make sure they didnt drink alcohol, did I fail them by getting one moved, maybe but why should I have to allow my wife to be abused by a drug filled child?
        As a footnote – The street I live on is called Argyll st, the snobs who live on the opposite end of the street spelt it Argyle St so the cannot be associated with the home….

      • Scumbags! What a horrible situation….

        Just as an experiment, I wondered whether it would be possible to record the noisy neighbours. They were so loud that I’ve been able to record them, clear as day, through the wall on a MOBILE PHONE. That’s how loud they are…

      • We used to live in a flat and the woman down stairs was a nightmare, we vacuumed she would slam doors, we sneezes she slammed doors, we got a letter from her solicitors saying our son was ruining her life, touching her fence and putting dirt over her fence, what she failed to mention or maybe lied about that my son was just about aged 3. When we moved in she was our best friend, all nicey nicey couldnt do enough for us, even swapping Christmas gifts, then about the spring all hell let loose and became the neighbour from hell. The council came, heard the banging, sent her a letter, but that changed nothing. So we ended buying a place and still ended up with a tosser of a neighbour, I must attract them lol. In the flat we had a coin meter for the electric, I left the key with the movers and they were suppose to put it under the mat for the electric guy to empty the meter box, it wasnt until five days later a letter to tell me the lock had been broken and the money taken, even brining in the police who said that the money had no chance to be recovered. Eventually we moved out the town and after a few good moves we ended up a great place with over the 14 years being her we have had 3 great next door neighbours. I think everyone has had neighbour trouble, I really do hope your situation gets better =)

  14. Bad neighbors are THE WORST. We have a detached home, and it doesn’t make a difference. Our neighbors’ (pushing 30 year old) son sits in his car at 3am-5am blasting music. The people directly across the street leave their yard looking horrific and feel as though cleaning their 5 cars without shirts on is something we wish to see. I hear you, I hate it.

    Surrounded by Pretty and bad neighbors

  15. I understand your situation very well. After living peacefully for 8 years in my flat my upstairs neighbour moved out and my new neighbour with her bloke moved in. I know when they are having sex, fighting, going to the loo, getting stuff out of the drawers and cupboards, listening to music, and stomping around. Mostly disturbing is that they make most of the noise between 11:30 PM and 02:00 AM. Once at 04:00 AM I really had enough and went upstairs to complain. They did apologise. And, it did get a bit more quiet for a while. But they still make a lot of noise and are very careless about it in the middle of the night. This drives me nuts to the point of night time anxiety attacks. Just when I am about to fall asleep something drops, drawers bang, feet stomp and my heart races. So, as a Feng Shui practitioner I decided to give it a try with mirrors. I purchased small mirrors that I could place facing up high above the windows. I did this for every room. The mirrors are not visible. They are said to reflect the unwanted/bad energy. But it is important not to be in a state of grudge when placing the mirrors and to just send the people’s own energy back. They should deal with their own stuff. I hope it helps. At least for the past two nights it was pleasantly quiet and I could get some much needed sleep. But if this method should not help on the long run, well, then I’ll read it as a sign to move out and move on and that there is something better waiting for me out there. In any case, wishing you good fortune and peace with your future neighbours.

    • Thanks so much for your comment. The Bloke has been experiencing anxiety because of all the noise – he had a heart op in Jan too so I’m always a bit worried!

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